1.25" Long-Spined Cyphaspis Trilobite - One Half Prepared

Long-Spined Cyphaspis Trilobite - One Half Prepared #283852

I specially requested to have some trilobites specimens prepared with only half of the trilobite exposed, while the other half remained fully encased in the limestone. These are an interesting demonstration to show, that yes these really are a fossil, found fully encased in hard limestone.

This a 1.25" long (including genal spines), long-spined Cyphaspis eberhardiei trilobite quarried from the Timrhanhart Formation at Foum Zguid, Morocco.

Trilobites were a very diverse group of extinct marine arthropods. They first appeared in the fossil record in the Early Cambrian (521 million years ago) and went extinct during the Permian mass extinction (250 million years ago). They were one of the most successful of the early animals on our planet: over 25,000 species have been described, filling nearly every evolutionary niche. Due in large part to their hard exoskeletons (shells), they left an excellent fossil record.

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